I have a friend, who a few years back ended up blowing up his PSU. He hadnt done anything to it previously, and isnt a tech-head so overclocking and the likes wasnt to blame.

He got a new PSU and upgraded a few other things while he was at it, and all was fine. Until now.

Woke up and turned my comp on for an offline MSN message saying his computer wont turn on, and it sounded similar to before. Went round today to have a look, tried a few combinations of things like Mobo+psu+gfx+ram, or without ram etc, and nothing happened. It doesnt help that the mobo doesnt have an LED on it to indicate power. Tried a PSU from a working computer and got the same.

He also tried using the old psu in the working computer, and he said it sparked but that was it.

My diagnosis is his mobo was faulty before, resulting in the first PSU blow-up (literally). This time its taken out the PSU as well as itself.

If anyone has any suggestions its more than welcome. Hes wanting to swap to intel perhaps, but wants to make sure the CPU isnt fried either, as money is tight. I suggested PC World might be able to test the CPU for free (can they? Id have thought its pretty quick and easy to check on a working motherboard and itd be cheeky for them to charge!)

If its a few yrs old buy a compatible mobo+cpu off ebay. Or just get a new pc cos it sounds like a dead horse to me.

Or just get a new pc cos it sounds like a dead horse to me.

 

PSUs can blow up and take the motherboard with them, or might cause damage that weakens it and the fail comes down the line. Why are you so sure that the PSU has blown this time? Were there flames, smoke, smell or did it trip the mains?

Only real way to know for sure is check the components individually in a system known to work. Once a system has gone though its usually not worth fixing. A new one would be a better option.

Plenty of systems come with a graphics system on the motherboard and a PCI-E slot, it might be better to go for a cheap one of those and transfer the stuff that still works over.